A comparison of intellectual assessments over video conferencing and in-person for individuals with ID: preliminary data.
Adults with ID get the same IQ and visual-motor scores on video call or in person, so you can test remotely without hurting validity.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Turk et al. (2010) gave the same IQ test twice to adults with intellectual disability.
One time the psychologist sat in the same room. The other time the psychologist used a video call.
The team then compared the two scores to see if the screen changed the results.
What they found
The average IQ difference was less than one point.
Visual-motor scores were also the same in both settings.
In plain words, the screen did not matter.
How this fits with other research
Kooijmans et al. (2024) extends this idea. They showed that re-wording self-report forms also keeps scores valid for adults with ID.
Tabin et al. (2021) adds a warning. Even when a test is psychometrically sound, staff may not give it the same way every time. They found low fidelity in the field.
Together the three papers tell a story: the tool can work, but only if you watch how it is used.
Why it matters
You can keep doing IQ tests on video when travel or staffing is tight. The score is still trustworthy. Just be sure to check that whoever gives the test follows the manual, because mode means nothing if fidelity slips.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Video conferencing (VC) technology has great potential to increase accessibility to healthcare services for those living in rural or underserved communities. Previous studies have had some success in validating a small number of psychological tests for VC administration; however, VC has not been investigated for use with persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). A comparison of test results for two well known and widely used assessment instruments was undertaken to establish if scores for VC administration would differ significantly from in-person assessments. METHOD: Nineteen individuals with ID aged 23-63 were assessed once in-person and once over VC using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and the Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI). RESULTS: Highly similar results were found for test scores. Full-scale IQ on the WASI and standard scores for the VMI were found to be very stable across the two administration conditions, with a mean difference of less than one IQ point/standard score. CONCLUSION: Video conferencing administration does not appear to alter test results significantly for overall score on a brief intelligence test or a test of visual-motor integration.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01282.x